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Sugar House Journal

Streetcar Corridor Plan to Limit Building Height

Jul 13, 2016 10h14 ● By Bryan Scott

The Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Master Plan was passed with amended changes to the original plan during the Salt Lake City Counicl Meeting on June 7. – Travis Barton

By Travis Barton | [email protected]


Building size will not exceed 100 feet after new zoning districts were amended.

The Salt Lake City Council voted on the Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Master Plan during a city council meeting on June 7 after three and a half years in development. The amended plan sees two new form-based zoning districts created, called FB-SC and FB-SE, surrounding the intersection at 2100 South and 700 East.

In the amended version of the plan, the FB-SC zone — located between the streetcar corridor and 2100 South — will limit building heights to 60 feet and up to 75 feet for buildings with 10 percent affordable housing for residential units.

“I think we’ve come up with a good compromise,” Lisa Adams, councilmember of District 7, said.

The FB-SE zone covers surrounding areas around 2100 South and 700 East and also touches parts from 500 East to 900 East. This zone allows for building heights up to 45 feet.

In the original plan, building heights would have been allowed up to 75 feet with 10 percent affordable housing and 105 feet for buildings with 20 percent affordable housing.

These zone changes were proposed by former mayor Ralph Becker in 2013, hoping to take advantage of the Sugar House streetcar transportation option.

“This whole thing is predicated on the transportation options because they say ‘the streetcar’s right there,’” Short said.

The problem, Short said, is that people who take the streetcar — or S-line — say it takes 40 minutes longer to get downtown on the streetcar than it does on the bus.

“It’s a great idea, but it’s not being utilized,” Short said.

Short said she thinks the desire to build more residential buildings has to do with the valley growing and the goal of 5,000 affordable units started by Becker.

“The valley is growing rapidly, and they want to make sure that they have places for people to live in Salt Lake as opposed to Herriman,” Short said.

The newly formed districts would allow mixed-use buildings, with retail and commercial stores limited to the first three floors.

Another change to the original ordinance was the removal of the right-hand turn lanes on 700 East between 2100 South and the 700 East streetcar station. The lanes were going to be removed for a bike lane and on-street parking.

Also, the proposed connection made between Green Street and Wilmington Avenue was removed from the ordinance, meaning the dead end at the south end of Green Street will remain.